


Shadow without light

by Zora_Chan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Anxiety, Cutting, Depression, Fluff, M/M, Post War, Sadness, School, before the war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:41:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27420613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zora_Chan/pseuds/Zora_Chan
Summary: Gaster is in college. This is kind of random and confusing. It was made from a mixture of several story ideas I've had.
Relationships: Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Grillster - Relationship, W. D. Gaster & Grillby, W. D. Gaster/Grillby
Kudos: 4





	Shadow without light

**Author's Note:**

> Comments of support and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. This is the first story I've done so enjoy.

Gaster was known for three things. The first was he was a genius. Always at the top of his class for every thing but gym. The second were his puns. He loved word games and puns were some of his favorites. Three he was horrible at socializing. He could talk in front of a crowd no problem. Ask someone a question. Discuss class work even. He only failed when it came to interactions were he had to actually interact with someone. Actually talk to them on a personal level. 

Instead of talking as his peers did before class while waiting for there professor he read. He loved books. He'd read at least five a week. Right now he was reading Wizard of Oz. It was a shorting book than he normally read but he found it interesting. For being a children's book it had an odd amount of murder in it. Humans would forever confuse him how they were so against there children seeing anything violent yet, anything written with death was fine. 

He wanted to laugh at it but just kept reading ignoring the odd glances from his classmates as they gossiped. There professor a tall human walked in. Slipping his book into his bag he made a mental note of the page he was on. The professor was a tall man with messy black hair. Stubble covered his face. He taught culture to humans and monsters alike. This had become Gaster's favorite class over the last few months. He rarely stopped moving always jumping back and fourth talking a mile a minute writing on the board. Often his classmates said he was hard to understand or he needed to slow down.

Pulling out his note book he prepared to write notes. One of his classmates raised her hand. She was a pretty purple bunny with two bright yellow bows at the base of her ears. It normally would seem quite childish but it fit her well. She wore a simple tank top and a pair of jean shorts. 

"yes!" Prof. Wucther yelled without glancing back. He was writing in bold letters LOV. Gaster found it odd he was deviling into monster culture. 

"Can I please have an extension on my essay," Gaster rolled his eyes. The assignment was an easy one. He had finished it last night. His mind flashed back to the night before. He had gone out to buy some new clothes after his got burnt when he was trying to cook. He only had two turtle necks and three pairs of jeans. He was just trying to cook some ramen to it was part of another extra credit assignment. The worst part was according to every human he asked ramen was easy to cook. His shirt ended up being burnt along with two pairs of jeans leaving him with one set of clothes. 

Luckily none of his books were burnt only the kitchen and his own bones. He went out before any of the stores closed to go buy new clothes. Even running at full speed the stores closed ten minutes before he got there. The worst part though was it started to rain. God he hated the rain. It always went into his eye sockets and got into his joints making him horribly sore. He dove into a bar that was still open. Almost all of the patrons were gone already but two fire monsters continued to bus people. Walking over to the bar he sat down. The bar was plenty warm almost hot. 

The younger of the two fire monsters was surprisingly handsome. Gaster kept catching himself watching him out of the corner of his eyes. His flames flickered oddly bright. When the flame monster came over Gaster couldn't help but admire him. The flame seemed like the sun beautiful and untouchable. He introduced himself as Grillby. Shaking his head he focused on his teacher who had kept writing while ranting about how extensions were useless and only encouraged procrastination. 

The board now said LOV=DT? Gaster already had formulated an answer. He guessed this was a human culture thing. Turning on his heel he threw down the chalk onto his desk. Looking around the room with sharp eyes he looked straight at Gaster. "Gaster!" He yelled while pointing at him. The entire room turned to look at him.

"Yes?" Gaster responded. Ignoring his classmates.

"Stand up and explain the statement!" He yelled while bouncing on his heels. His pace increasing. Gaster pulled himself up standing at his full height. He was tall but he knew several others who were taller than him. 

"LOV stands for Level of violence. Humans and monsters alike have LOV. Humans though also have DT standing for determination. This gives them more strength than monsters but also makes them more prone to violence. While the higher the LOV in humans does usually mean more DT in there soul as well this is not always true," This wasn't the first time Gaster had explained this exact subject. The last time he explained it though he had been in front of scientists. 

"Anyone want to counter that. Stay standing," He pointed at Gaster when he saw him start to sit down. Now pacing he called on a pudgy human with braces and blocky glasses Gaster had been told were nerdy. Over all Gaster was repulsed by the humans appearance. His face wore one of those smug grins that people that thought they were better than everyone wore. 

"That's stuipd there are no such things as souls. Also DT and LOV are just myths to screw with us humans. The monsters are trying to seem more powerful," He kept going but Gaster just stared at him. He's not a nerd Gaster noted. Now he was truly repulsed. Eventually professor Wucther turned back to Gaster. He looked pissed. 

"Counter that," His voice was quiet, the first sign he was angry. While he was always loud and yelling it was odd and nerve racking to hear him so quiet.

"Souls are real. Every monster can summon theirs. Humans cannot though so it does lead a lot of humans to believe they don't exist," With a soft ping he summoned his soul. "This is a soul. The color indicates how much LOV is inside," The humans eyes were bulging so much it looked as if they might explode. Prof was smirking. Gaster unsummoned his soul and sat down. The class continued talking about humans and the way there culture was affected by the way there souls worked. 

It was fascinating. Humans were fascinating. When he joined the class originally his father questioned it. His father questioned everything. Gaster couldn't blame him though he was paying for his college after all. Not that it was really chipping into his money. The royal scientists always got an obscene amount of money. His father didn't even use most of it. He payed bills made sure they both were fed. The most expansive things he bought was books for himself and Gaster. 

His mind wondered as the teacher droned on. The dark purple in his soul indicated a high amount of love. It was only lower than red. He knew why his soul was that color but he hated thinking about it. Only bad memories and pain would come from thinking about the past. Instead he focused on the sketch he was drawing in the note book. The teacher went on explaining how are actions change based on what is inside our soul and how much is inside. The sketch was of a flame monster. He was wearing a nice dress shirt with dress pants and a vest. Along with a snazzy bow tie.

The flames flickered on top of his head. He was holding a glass of something part of it spilling as he had his head back laughing. After he was complete he began to work on other monsters. They were also standing around at a party. The next one he was working on was a Tem. For being weird little creatures they were good at partying. Trying to drink one under the table was hard to. Nobody even knew if the little things got drunk. They always acted drunk or high. He adored the little creatures they were great drinking buddies if you wanted to numb they were the best. It seemed like they didn't remember much either so they were great with secrets.

"Gaster!"

"Yes?" He replied more out of instinct than recognition.

"Stop doing extra credit assignments I don't wanna read any more of your long reports," Turning on his heel he marched out with his coffee cannister hugged to his chest. The man was an addict. Gaster growled annoyed he wasn't allowed to do extra credit in another class. Carefully he put away his notebook with the half finished scene along with everything else in his pack. Standing up he walked out of the class room trying to decided what to do next. His joints popped as he stood up. He groaned lightly from them aching. 

"Gaster wanna go out us tonight," Toriel eyes shined hopeful. Gaster suddenly regretted walking out of the room. While he loved to be around Toriel with her happy go lucky attitude he hated being around Asgore. Asgore though would some day be the king. Asgore was always so laid back as if a war couldn't break out when ever. He acted as though everyone lived for him. Biting back a sharp retort Gaster smiled pleasantly.

He went to say no out of reflex but decided wherever they were going would probably has drinks. "Where are we going," He offered instead walking with her out to the student parking lot. A delighted squeal emits from her. She is cute but Gaster knows better than flirt with the prince's girlfriend. Besides lately Gaster had been more into guys. While he was Bi he often would lean to one side more preferring guys one day then girls the next. 

"Were going to this bar called Grillbys," Gaster's soul skipped a beat. That was the name of the bar he went to last night. Maybe if he drank enough he could work up the nerve to ask that flame out. He doubted that but still it was a nice thought to entertain. Either way he could drink himself sick. He had no classes tomorrow sense it was a break. He could spend the entire day pretending he didn't have to see his family the day after it. 

"We going now sense none of us have any more classes," She shook her head. 

"Nope! I'll text you the address and when we start heading there," She waves he hand as she hurry's to meet Asgore in his car. Throwing his pack over his shoulder Gaster began to walk back to town. He still needed to buy new clothes. The edges of his hoodie were burnt. As he walked he glanced around making sure nobody else was nearby. Rolling up his sleeve he looked at the burns and cuts covering his arm. Seven straight cuts right in a row from his latest panic attack. Falling over Gaster just laid on the ground while someone started apologizing. His voice was crackly and deep. It made Gaster think of a fire.

Dragging himself up he turned and faced the one who had knocked him down. The first thing that crossed his mind was surprise. The one who knocked him over was the bar tender from the night before. Grillby seemed equally surprised. Now a large hole was in half of his pant leg. 

"Dammit," Gaster cursed as his hand felt up the hole. 

"I'm so sorry," Grillby seemed nervous and jumpy.

"Hmm? Oh, its fine I was gonna get new clothes today any way," Any energy that Gaster had possessed was gone. He just felt tired. He decided he would just go home instead of shopping he had another pair of pants. At least he could stitch with pair up. Maybe? He frowned knowing he probably didn't have another pair and he sucked at stitching. Reaching into his bag he grabbed a clip and clipped the hole shut hoping it wouldn't rip more. Looking up he saw the flame was still watching him. 

"I'll pay for new pants," Grillby rubs his wrist twisting his shirt cuff. 

"No I'm fine. You should just go do what you were doing before this," Looking down at his arm "Shit," Gaster clasped his arm before turning on his heel and hurrying away. Hugging it to his chest he hurried towards home. The scabs on his arm had broken and now his arm was bleeding magic. Purple blood leaked out staining his only clean shirt like item. 

"Wait I wanna pay you back," The flame monster hurried after him and Gaster sped up. He was only a block away from his apartment. 

"I'm fine," Gaster called back breaking into a run hugging his arm to his chest and wincing in pain. Grillby refused to leave without paying him back though. As soon as he got to his building he threw open the door to the apartment. Grillby was right behind him and caught the door refusing to give up on paying him back. 

"This is my house please leave before I call the police," Gaster growled. 

"Your hurt! If I don't pay you back I'll feel miserable! At least let me help you with something," he sounded desperate. Gaster growled but gave up letting Grillby into the apartment. He ignored him as he wrapped his arm back up. He sighed in relief as it stopped bleeding. Grillby looked around with disgust written on his face. The kitchen was black from the fire Gaster had started. Smoke covered everything in the kitchen. The rest of the house had papers every where not to mention the random piles of books that looked as if they might fall over at any second. 

Walking into his room he rifled through his drawers filled with binders of documents. Finally he found a pair of gray sweat pants. He couldn't find any shirts besides the one that was half ash. Throwing it down on the coffee table he growled before glancing over to see Grillby still standing in the door way not seeming to know what to do. Stepping over the fire extinguisher Gaster grabbed a packet of uncooked ramen. Peeling it open he began chomping on it raw taking a bite out of the side of the hard dry noodles. 

"Are you eating that without even cooking it," Now Grillby seemed truly disgusted. Gaster glanced at the kitchen knowing full well the stove and sink no longer turned on. It was a miracle the fridge worked. It froze everything he put in it though so it worked to well. 

"I burnt my kitchen trying to cook one of these. Nothing works in there any more," Taking another bite he decided that the noodles tasted like cardboard. They were gross. Still they were better than nothing. The dead pot he cooked them in still sat in the sink as it would until he was forced to clean it or until he threw it out. 

"How did you even do that? Ramen is the easiest to cook?" Grillby looked beyond confused. Gaster almost laughed at him. Pulling out his phone he texted Toriel telling her he probably wouldn't be able to make. She just responded with a frowning face. Looking down at his sleeve he tried to decide what he should do. He can't leave the house with his sleeve covered in blood. He also can't leave the house without a shirt. 

"You've met the worst chef in the world. I burnt down my house when I was a kid trying to make a smore," The fact that it was true was what hurt the worst. He still remembered the shouting and anger that came after that. He just wanted to try a smore and neither of his parents had agreed to help. "You said you wanted to help me. I need a shirt can you get me one?" Gaster flops down on the couch staring at the ceiling. Suddenly Grillby threw a purple galaxy hoodie at him. Gaster caught it with ease. Pulling off his hoodie he felt the cool draft from the still open door. Slipping on the hoodie it was soft on the inside.

Looking at Grillby he was surprised by the blush covering his face. It made him look cute. The bright blue blush covering the area that would be his cheeks. 

"What you gay," Gaster teased. He didn't know why but he felt oddly comfortable talking to him. 

What's wrong with being gay?" Grillby asked closing the door his voice full of sass.

"Nothing."

"You made it sound like its a crime," Gaster's face exploded in a blush as Grillby leaned down over him. The man was hot. 

"Damn boy, You really are hot. To me sounds like your a flaming homo," Gaster laughed at his own awkward pun pick up line mixture. 

"Hey! What's wrong with being a flaming homo," Gaster laughed even harder.

"Nothing it just easier to come up with puns for a flame. I find them funnier than skeleton puns. People also get more of them. For the recorded I am Bi," Gaster laughed before closing his eyes. God he was tired. He really just wanted to sleep. Then again he also wanted a drink. Looking at his phone Toriel had texted him she said that they were heading to the bar. Gaster texted that he would be there.

"Alright time to get you out of my house. I'm going out with my friends your welcome to come with," Gaster walked out with Grillby following behind him. For some reason this made Gaster really happy. He liked Gaster for some reason. He could never tell you why though.


End file.
